LARA BINGLE ON INSTAGRAM: "WHY I STOPPED POSTING PHOTOS ONLINE"

She was once one of the most prolific life-sharers on social media, but one day Lara Bingle mysteriously deleted all personal photos from her accounts.

The Aussie model, who is about to give birth to her first child, shocked fans in September last year when she went on a sudden deleting rampage on both her Instagram and Twitter pages. This included every single photo of partner Sam Worthington, who ditched his account entirely.

Lara has now revealed why she suddenly stopped sharing intimate pics with her dedicated followers. In an interview with Gritty Pretty magazine, which hits stands today, the 27-year-old says she reset her perspective on social media after being bitten time and time again.

“I realised people were making money from it. Everything I’d post, they’d make a story out of it,” she told the mag.

The blonde beauty is one of the most-followed Aussie stars on Instagram, with 424,000 followers and counting. But these days, she never posts pics of her man Worthington and rarely posts selfies, choosing instead to focus on pics associated with her breakout beauty and self-tanning label The Base, which she launched last year.

“For The Base, I use [social media] constantly, but for me, personally, I used to think it was more fun. I don’t take it too seriously anymore,” Bingle said.

“Where I am isn’t, generally, where my Instagrams [pics] are of ... They’re not saying anything; it’s just photos I like.”

The mass photo delete, thought to be the result of Worthington’s increasing desire for privacy, made more sense earlier this year, when rumours that the pair were expecting their first child together turned out to be true.

Last month, OK! magazine published the first undisputedly pregnant photos of Lara, claiming she has “three months to go” before giving birth.

As for the equally mysterious update to her name on Instagram as Lara Bingle Worthington, she appears on the cover of Gritty Pretty wearing a wedding band and even signed her name as Lara Worthington.

When asked about tying the knot in secret with her 38-year-old Avatar beau, she simply said: “There’s no mystery anymore ...”

Bingle’s exclusive interview with the new magazine (this is Gritty Pretty’s 2nd issue) touches on everything from her workout and beauty regimes, to what it was like growing up in the spotlight and claims that she’s been holed up for months, trying to hide her pregnancy from the media.

“I’ve been in Europe, it’s been crazy cold, so it’s just definitely nicer to be in California,” she said.

“Settling [down] doesn’t mean being in one place. For me, it’s about being settled in yourself. I like travelling and I like the life [we] have. I don’t want to be pigeon holed.”

On dealing with media attention — sometimes negative, — from a young age, Lara said: “I grew up in the media. I had opinions coming from everywhere — if I put on a few kilos it was the end of the world. But, to be honest, I live in a bubble now. I don’t read any of that.”

Bingle is reportedly due to give birth in just two weeks. Her small baby bump can be seen in some of the stunning images taken from the Gritty Pretty photo shoot.